RECORD REVIEWS

'OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES'
Ray Davies (V2)
Grade: B
Kinks leader Ray Davies could hardly have come up with a more appropriate title for his first solo album. Where most pop songwriting is narcissistic, Davies' brilliant musical vignettes, from "Sunny Afternoon" to "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," were always observational, full of telling detail that exposed the foibles and failings of, well, other people's lives.
And the 61-year-old singer's late-breaking solo debut shows his story songs, cynical and sentimental by turn, still to be sharp, shrewd and tuneful. Written in the wake of suffering a gunshot wound while living in New Orleans, Davies implicates himself in the satiric "The Tourist," trains his eye on his longtime "Next Door Neighbour," and triumphs over despondency on the cheeky "Is There Life After Breakfast."
--Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer
'AGE OF WINTERS'
The Sword (Kemado)
Grade: B
If you're a metal connoisseur who finds current heavies like Queens of the Stone Age and Mars Volta too cerebral, the Sword -- the Austin, Texas, rookies with the medieval-looking logo that demands to be traced on notebooks -- might be your cup of decibels.
The quartet molds classic metal influences (Black Sabbath, Slayer) into contorted shapes with extended instrumental rampages and double-tracked vocals buried in the mix. It's all swathed in a bone-dry sound that you can picture being cranked out by four longhairs in a smallish room, heads rattling in unison.
Sabbath's dark specter resonates in the apocalypse-is-nigh drone that opens the disc ("Celestial Crown") and the Sword's liberal usage of "War Pigs" punctuations throughout. On "Iron Swan," they slow down Slayer's bilious crunch to tempos that are less vertigo-inducing.
Be warned: Come sniffing around this disc for a fix of megawatt irony and you'll get the smirk blown off your face in short order.
--Patrick Berkery, Philadelphia Inquirer
'HOME'
The Corrs (Rhino)
Grade: B
On this release, the sibling quartet from the Irish town of Dundalk embraces its native roots. That turns out to be a very good thing. The Corrs bring a bright, brisk pop sheen to such broguish ballads as "My Lagan Love" and "Black Is the Color."
The lovely and limpid voice of Andrea Corr is perfectly suited to this material, particularly the two songs with Gaelic lyrics. Just as good are the instrumentals "Old Hag" and "Haste to the Wedding," played with uillean pipes, accordion, bodhrans and fiddles.
It's traditional music but quite spirited. For a bonus, you get a pair of covers: Richard Thompson's "Dimming of the Day" and "Old Town," a Phil Lynott song that the Corrs give a piquant '60s vibe.
--David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer
'THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT REMY'
Remy Ma (Universal)
Grade: A
The Bronx's sultriest mistress of hip-hop may be famous for providing rap's laziest dance -- "Lean Back" by Terror Squad -- with swaggering femininity and an unchecked ride-till-I-die volatility that turned her from mere moll to empowered gangsta.
But she has more than a little to say -- smartly, sensitively -- on the inner-city blues that plague her sisterhood.
That doesn't mean Remy -- femcee prot & eacute;g & eacute; of the late Big Pun -- is preachy. Far from it, as she takes to pitiless braggadocio on the Scott Storch-produced "Conceited" and makes duet partner Fat Joe sound reed-thin in comparison on "Tight."
But like a student in the school of Nina Simone's hard knocks, an incensed Ma eschews dumbing down when it comes to the question of abortion ("What's Going On") and the perks of fame ("My Life").
Makes you yearn for Remy's graduation day.
--A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer